Home Prices Jump Up in Q3

The Federal Housing Finance Agency House Price Index (HPI) recently reported that house prices increased 6.1 percent in Q3 from the year prior.

"Our data indicate that the deceleration in home price growth that we observed in late spring proved to be short-lived," said FHFA Supervisory Economist Andrew Leventis. "While price growth in select markets has cooled somewhat, for the U.S. as a whole, the third quarter showed no evidence of a widespread slowdown."

Specifically, the report indicates that house prices increased in 49 states from the year before with Delaware and the District of Columbia as the only areas not to see an increase.

The top five states for annual appreciation according to FHFA include:

1) Florida

2) Oregon

3) Washington

4) Colorado

5) Utah

“Among the 100 most populated metropolitan areas in the U.S., annual price increases were greatest in the Tacoma-Lakewood, WA (MSAD), where prices increased by 12.9 percent,” said the report. “Prices were weakest in New Haven-Milford, CT, where they fell 1.7 percent.”

Additionally, FHFA stated that among the census divisions, the South Atlantic division saw a 1.8 percent quarterly increase and a 7.1 percent increase from the previous year. This was the highest increase of all the divisions according to the report. In contrast, house price appreciation was the lowest in the New England division, said FHFA. Specifically, prices only increased 0.8 percent from Q2.

Kendall Baer is a Baylor University graduate with a degree in news editorial journalism and a minor in marketing. She is fluent in both English and Italian, and studied abroad in Florence, Italy. Apart from her work as a journalist, she has also managed professional associations such as Association of Corporate Counsel, Commercial Real Estate Women, American Immigration Lawyers Association, and Project Management Institute for Association Management Consultants in Houston, Texas. Born and raised in Texas, Baer now works as the online editor for DS News.